US retail sales climbed more than forecast

US retail sales rose more than forecast in December as consumers snapped up holiday gifts amid year-end discounting, giving the world’s biggest economy a lift at the end of 2013.

Purchases increased 0.2 per cent after a 0.4 per cent advance in November that was smaller than previously reported, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington.

Excluding cars, demand jumped by the most in almost a year.

Holiday-season deals probably helped retailers overcome the coldest December in four years. At the same time, improving confidence owing to falling joblessness and further healing in the housing market is likely to support household spending, which accounts for almost 70 per cent of the economy, in 2014.

"There's still some pent-up demand," Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Financial in Detroit said before the report.

“We see consumer sentiment and confidence continuing to rebound, and fewer headwinds now at the beginning of the year.”

Stock-index futures held earlier gains after the report.

The contract on the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index maturing in March rose 0.2 per cent to 1,818.9 at 8.33am in New York.

In the days after Thanksgiving known as the Black Friday weekend, spending dropped for the first time since 2009 with merchants extending deep discounts, according to the National Retail Federation.

That period included the start of December since Thanksgiving fell later in the calendar last year. Store traffic plunged 10.2 per cent in the week ended December 7 compared with a 2.3 per cent gain in the week after Thanksgiving in the prior year, according to data from researcher ShopperTrak.

Conversely, online shopping surged about 20 per cent to a record on Cyber Monday as consumers took to the Internet to buy gifts.

Seven of 13 major merchant retailer categories showed gains last month, today’s Commerce Department report showed. The increases were paced by a 2 per cent jump at grocery and beverage stores that was the biggest since October 2006.

Auto purchases fell to a 15.3 million annualised rate from a 16.3 million pace in November, according to data from Ward’s Automotive Group. Last month was the coldest December since 2009 and snowfall was 21 per cent above normal, according to weather- data provider Planalytics. Bad weather on the East Coast and Midwest last month slowed sales gains at General Motors for the year.

Bloomberg